Reddit mentions: The best tent footprints

I just bought a whole bunch of camping stuff for the bike. Basically, I focused on a two things; Pack size and weight. I'm aiming to fit everything in some hard cases, and I think I have enough space for all of this plus food and clothes for a week quite comfortably.

The thing I realised is that the tent and sleep system will cost the most. The tent you can skimp a little on if you're ok with it wearing out after a few seasons.

So, I was able to save a lot by getting a Kelty tent; they make some great 2-4 man tents that are super portable. The Salida 2 might be the most appropriate for you. I'm able to set up the Salida 4 in about 5 minutes. It's not quite as easy as the "pop-up" tents, but its pretty damn light and packs down into a manageable size. $113 and you'll want the footprint $32

Self inflating mattresses seem to take too much space. So I went for a Therm-a-rest all season mattress. There's a new model coming out I think but the one for $109 seems fine. Yes, expensive but I think it will be worth it - it improves the temperature rating of the bag and will fit inside the sleeping bag I got.

Get a warm sleeping bag. Something like this Big Agnes $179 is good. It will accept the mattress so that you don't fall off it during the night. It will back down tight and unlike a down sleeping bag it will stay dry longer and will perform well for longer. Down is "the best" but unless you need to sleep through sub freezing temps you should be ok. Can always stick one of these underneath $22 to improve things.

This is an awesome stove for $14. Fits on standard camp stove bottles and is very wide and stable. You need to buy the gas at a camping store.

You'll want other stuff:

• Cook set. Lots of single person/2 person cook sets out there that are great on a small stove.
  
• Cutlery and plates. I have a lightweight aluminium plate set and some cutlery for it.
  
• A collapsable bucket thing so you can wash your stuff when you're finished, and also so you can carry water from a water source.
  
• A water filter if you're counting on drinking water from a water source.
  
• A tool kit for your bike.
  
• A first aid kit.
  
• Paper maps of the areas you will ride through.
  
• LED rechargeable lanterns/lights etc so you can find stuff in the dark.
  
• A multitool, a nice big camping/hunting knife to cut stuff with when you're bored, a camping axe and a shovel so you can bury your excrement if needed.
  
• Some way to start a fire if needed, matches, lighter, etc.
  
• Inflatable pillow.
  
• This seems to work great for coffee.
  
• dry bags/sacks to store stuff in.
  
• Something to store food in.
  
  And you'll want some motorcycle specific luggage that fits to your bike. I'm a fan of Kriega system bags for sports bikes as you can strap a whole bunch of the bags together to store everythign you need nicely. A bit expensive but when you start looking at the options you might find it's hard to fit everything you want on the bike without investing in some good luggage for the bike.
  
  People may disagree with some of the things I've said, thats cool. I just went through all of this myself so figured it might help. YMMV etc.

Uhhh, holy crap! Firstly, amazon shadily makes different suggestions to you than me, based on our history on the site, so i don't see those on my page. I dug around though, and wow, this is a whole part of amazon they were hiding from me, presumably because i first started looking for the more expensive ones!

I'm wholly inexperienced and still gearing up with this, I've probably spent almost as much time watching youtube vids and reading this sub as I have in my 5 day trips to the woods in the last ~1.5 months. So I had not heard about the drawbacks of saggy nylon, (that was a good read, thx!) and had no preference other than hoping not to waste money on something that is destroyed in a few months. Most folks i've seen in videos were using sil tarps for their shelters at least, though I sure couldn't tell you why. What other uses do sil tarps have that make them worth 3x the price? I just want something i can use to make a shelter out of, I have the sleeping bag

Just after a quick browse here, would this make sense to you?

maybe this as a shelter tarp?
https://www.amazon.ca/Ultralight-person-Footprint-Camping-Fishing/dp/B01E0TDH42/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485452993&sr=8-1&keywords=20D%2Btarp&th=1&psc=1

and something like this as a ground sheet?
https://www.amazon.ca/Oxford-Fabric-Footprint-Camping-Fishing/dp/B01D8GXI7O/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1485452993&sr=8-4&keywords=20D+tarp

Or doubling up on one or the other could make more sense, as you mentioned before? Thanks so much for the detailed info!

edit: I should mention weight is a minor concern for sure, my general plans involve hiking some distance and camping, carrying ~30-40lbs of weight seems like a sensible goal for my 200-210lb frame. (Just went on my first training hike with 40 lbs on for 8km total, it was something!)

See if you can find ripstop silnylon in a good camo print like multicam, Cadpat, , MARPAT, flecktarn. Good for stealth camping !

Also check out this groundsheet on Amazon.ca
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01D8E3HCW/

20D Single side coated silicon 360T Nylon Fabric 

About 200cm square for $27 is a good price. I'm thinking of getting one for a tarp and just sew in more tarp pullouts. Looks like a neutral tone earthy gray colour.

Isn't the actual Kelty Grand Mesa 2 Footprint the best option?

Nice!

I would suggest a ground sheet to help with the dust. I use a cheap one from amazon .

Amazon has the footprint for it. I bought it off here for my grand Mesa 2P

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004N5ORXO/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1404846774&sr=8-1

It sounds like you may want to switch to Oxford polyester as an affordable option. Here's a close up

I'm a big fan of my Kelty Salida 2 plus the footprint brings it to a little more than $150.

I use a tent footprint I got for clearance on Amazon for $12. Here is an almost identical one for $16.48. I hang it diagonally and use some tarp pullouts from Jacks-R-Better, to get it hung taut, and it's worked out just fine for the couple trips I've taken it on this summer. Weighs a pound and a half, so a bit heavier than the ENO, but much lighter than one of those blue, Walmart ones.

Stupid cheap Amazon ultralight tarp/groundsheet

I use this one which is $14.99, durable, and weighs 3oz

Geertop 1 Person Ultralight Waterproof Tent Tarp Footprint Ground Sheet Mat, for Camping, Hiking, Picnic (4 Sizes) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D8E3HCW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7WqhDb8Z97RSB